I'll Be Your Shadow
by SPB
Summary: In the aftermath of the battle with Magica DeSpell, Lebby grieves the apparent demise of her best friend, Lena. But she soon discovers that Lena has survived, though not in a way she might have thought.


Though it had only been a few hours since the defeat of Magica DeSpell and the passing of the eclipse, Webby was still deeply mourning the loss of her best friend, Lena. It was still hard for her to comprehend that the duck she'd considered a friend and had trusted with so many secrets, had turned out to just be a manifestation of Magica with little free will of her own.

At the least Lena had been willing to sacrifice herself so Scrooge could defeat Magica, hopefully for good. But while everyone else was celebrating the reuniting of the McDuck clan and kin, Webby was watching from afar. To her there was nothing to celebrate, everything just reminded her of the fact that Lena was gone and would never be coming back.

A heavy sigh escaped Webby's lips as she sat on the front step of McDuck Manor, gazing up at the night sky. "Oh Lena, why did you have to be what you were?" Webby complained to herself. "It's just not fair! We were supposed to be best friends for life! We were supposed to get into fights over silly things and then get back together like nothing ever happened! We were supposed to share secrets and tell scary stories until late at night! But none of that will ever happen now."

Nothing but the wind was there to answer Webby's cries and to her it just further reminded her of how alone she was. True, she had the triplets, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, not to mention Launchpad and even Scrooge himself, and they were all part of her circle of friends. But none of them truly compared to Lena, to Webby it had felt like she'd finally found someone on her level, someone she could relate to. To think that all along it had all been a clever ruse by Magica DeSpell to steal Scrooge's number one dime so she could escape. Perhaps if Lena had come clean from the start, all of this could've been avoided?

Webby shook her head at the idea. " _Scrooge and my aunt would've just seen her as a threat and chased her away. Heck, who knows if we would've remained best friends if I'd known the truth?_ " She thought to herself. Well, it was silly now to wonder about that "What If?" scenario, time travel was not yet a possibility. There was no way to change the past.

But there would never again be a friend like Lena, and Webby knew it. Still, Lena wouldn't want her best friend to be all upset. If she were here she'd say in her own Lena way that Webby should be celebrating, and be thankful for the friends and family that she had. And that was just what Webby intended to do.

"I hope the party hasn't finished without me," Webby said to herself. "At least Huey, Dewey, and Louie know the truth too. Maybe they'll know how to cope with the absence of someone dear to you."

* * *

But all of a sudden as Webby got up to go join the party, the moonlight just happened to reflect off her in such a way that her own shadow could now be seen. And Webby nearly gasped at what she saw! Instead of a reflection of herself, her shadow took on the distinctive appearance of Lena!

Webby blinked and rubbed her eyes! It had to be a dream, no way was it real. Any moment now she was going to wake up in her bed and realize that Lena wasn't there. But when she opened her eyes again the duckling saw that she wasn't seeing things, it was indeed the form of Lena.

"Lena! Is it really you?!" Webby exclaimed, a bit too loudly. She was thankful that there was no one else around to hear her, or they might think she was crazy.

"Yeah, it's me alright," Lena replied. "Sorry I didn't speak with you earlier, kind of hard to communicate when you're a shadow and all."

"But… how… I mean I thought for sure you were… you know…" Webby trailed off, unable to bring herself to say what needed to be said.

Lena seemed to giggle in response. "That's what I thought too. When I briefly broke free of Magicia and held her back, I thought my time on this world was over. But it seems the same magic that sealed Magicia in Scrooge's number one dime during the last eclipse, allowed me to merge with your shadow during this eclipse."

"Wow, that is so cool!" Webby happily exclaimed! "So now everywhere I go, you go!" Then she started to realize something. "Wait, that means when I go to sleep you'll be watching over me. That's… actually kind of creepy. Can a shadow go inside another duck's dreams?"

"I'm not sure, I never got a chance to ask Magicia what it's like to be a shadow," Lena quickly replied. "But I'll only exist so long as there's light for your shadow to appear. And I can detach myself from your shadow if necessary. So I don't have to go _everywhere_ you go."

Webby breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, because there are some places I don't think I'd be comfortable having you watch over me," And then she cheerfully added. "Ooh, wait until I tell everyone about this! They'll be ecstatic!"

"No!" Lena protested. "This has to remain a secret between us. I don't think most ducks know I was an accidental creation of Magicia, Scrooge especially is going to think I'm still Magica's spy. I'm not sure if he could do anything to me in this state, but I'd rather not find out."

Webby giggled. "So I guess now it's _my_ turn to keep a secret! Oh, this is gonna be so cool! My first big secret!"

"And probably your greatest!" Lena added. "And who knows? Maybe someday we'll find a way for me to become whole again."

"That would be lovely!" Webby fondly exclaimed! "But for now, I think I'd better get back to the party before anyone notices I'm gone. You should probably stay out of sight."

Lena grinned. "Don't worry, I'm _very_ good at pretending I'm not there."


End file.
